


when the party's over

by daisystars, ohworm (owolivia)



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, F/F, basically they all have daemons, daemon AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2020-08-11 15:36:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20155945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisystars/pseuds/daisystars, https://archiveofourown.org/users/owolivia/pseuds/ohworm
Summary: A different take on The Walking Dead (The Final Season), including dæmons - 'external physical manifestation of a person's inner-self that takes the form of an animal.' Follow the story of Clementine and Alvin Junior along with their dæmons Marie and Rosie as they search for a place they can call home.





	1. Chapter One

Chapter One (_written by both Daisy and Olivia_)

Driving with your windows down was the best feeling in the world, Clementine had to admit. Sure, saving the child you've taken care of since it was born was high on the list, but nothing could beat the feeling of fresh air blowing through her hair, passing by fast and not sticking to her like the hot humid air did. It was nearing autumn, the trees were slowly but surely getting rid of their leaves, leaving them scattered around, making a nice cracking sound every time she ran one over. Feeling like she controlled the road, the young teen gave a small smile at the leaves that flew out of her way from the speed of her car. She would see the usual speed limit sign every once in a while and sped past way faster than she should, feeling badass and reckless. As if a simple piece of metal could control her in this fucked up world.

AJ demanded they give their car a name. Make it feel more like home. And, well, with the colors and everything, Clementine decided on 'Lightning McQueen'. AJ didn't understand at all, Marie was disappointed, but Clem fucking loved it. Her and Lightning McQueen on an empty road. Didn't that happen in the movie as well? She had no idea. She barely remembered the movie, let alone remember the plot. It was childish, but it made her feel cool, driving around in a sports car. The kind of cars the cool kids had in all the movies, movies like High School Musical.

The road also served as, one may say, a metaphor. Clementine didn't get far enough to know everything about literature and metaphors and secret meanings, but she wasn't completely clueless either. She saw herself in such an open terrain; just her and Lightning McQueen, plenty of possibilities. No obstacles in her way, just her and the horizon, excited about new opportunities. No people, no groups, nothing. Just her and the faint growling of Lightning McQueen.

And, well, the three annoying shits in there with her.

"There's a walker on the road, Clementine!" the cougar stated quite obviously, "turn to the left."

"Take it back now, y'all." the teen muttered and ran the walker over, pushing down the urge to laugh, prepared for the scolding from her dæmon.

"I swear, one of these days I might have to take over the wheel instead of you," Marie said, going back to laying her head down on the seat, barely fitting, but it would do. Better than the forest floor.

"You're a cougar Marie, animals can't drive."

"Oh yeah? Watch me."

Clementine turned her head back to look at her without hesitation, "Okay, I'm watching."

Marie perked up immediately, knowing the consequences for when Clem isn't paying attention to the road. "Clem! Keep your eyes on the damn road!"

Clem gasped, placing a hand to her heart, "I'm sorry, are you questioning my driving skills, Marie?"

"Clementine, keep both your hands on the wheel!"

"I am, so offended." Clem finally looked back at the road, still however driving with one hand, just to tease the cougar. Marie rolled her eyes, wanting to roll over and lay on her back, but didn't want to hit AJ in the process.

"When did you get so dramatic?" She scoffed, ears perking up once noticing the quiet yet irritating noise of someone toying with a gun. The cougar looked at the said child, keeping her voice soft. "Hey AJ, what are you doing?"

The boy only stopped for a moment, looking at the weapon that was too heavy to be in such young hands. "Pretending we got bullets."

"Well, don't, it's getting on my nerves," Clementine spoke up, glancing at him through the mirror briefly. The boy rolled his eyes, pocketing the gun and holding Rosie instead.

The small lemur smiled at him, not wanting to get involved. She would be forever grateful to Clementine for taking care of AJ and herself, realizing throughout the years how tough it must've been. She wasn't the calmest dæmon, changing forms every minute and getting lost until she heard AJ crying and realizing herself she'd been shedding a few tears. Yet Clementine had the patience and care to keep them safe, even with her own dæmon being enough trouble.

"Hey, goofball, what's bothering you?" The teen spoke up again, her voice wary. He appreciated her concern, but couldn't help the frown forming after hearing the nickname.

"I don't like 'goofball'," he started, hesitant. "I'm too big for it. Right, Rosie?"

"Would you prefer 'shit-bird' instead?" Clementine was instantly scolded by Marie.

"That's mean!"

"No, you're a shit-bird, though." And now AJ had the cougar's attention, gawking at him for such a word.

"Alvin Junior! Don't use such language!" Marie practically yelled, shaking her head. "They're not appropriate for your age, and not for your age either, Clem!"

"Jeez, okay, mom."

"And don't call me mom!"

Clementine snickered, her attention now back on the road. She looked around the area, seeing nothing but trees and more trees. Clem hoped that soon the environment around them would change into something different, like buildings or even just open fields. Clem knew it wouldn't just make her happy, but it would also make AJ, Marie, and Rosie happy too. She put her fantasy aside, now focused on a low growling noise coming from behind her. Clem looked up at the rearview mirror, seeing AJ holding his stomach.

"What's wrong?" Clementine asked him, slight worry in her voice.

"Hungry," he replied, slowly looking up at her. His sad eyes instantly crushing her heart, cursing the world for all her issues.

Clementine sighed, now looking at Marie through the mirror. "Is there any food back there Marie?"

"None that I can see, no."

"Fuck.." Clem looked over at the passenger seat, seeing one of AJ's toys, a magazine, and a bag of some kind of snack. She smirked, leaning over and grabbing the toy, which was a broccoli with a disco touch added onto it.

"Hey there Alvin Junior!" Clem said, doing her best to do the voice of the character, "It's me, Disco Broccoli!"

"Oh my god Clem," Marie tried to cover her ears, but obviously failed.

"Word on the street is that you wanna eat me. Is that true? Do you wanna eat me?"

AJ tried to hold in his laughter, failing to do so. He let out a little giggle, growing serious right afterward, "C'mon, Clem. I can't eat a toy."

"Aw, man. My feelings are hurt." She lowered the toy while saying this, acting like it's looking down in shame.

"My stomach hurts."

"Hmph, sassy." Clementine put the toy in the back where AJ and the two dæmons were seated. She looked back at the stuff on the passenger seat, eying the magazine. She picked it up, handing it back to AJ, "Here, practice your reading."

AJ took the magazine, opening it to a random page, "But I don't wanna,"

For once Marie agreed with Clem on something, looking up at AJ, "Clem's right buddy, reading can be fun sometimes."

"It'll also take your mind off your stomach."

"Alright, alright." AJ looked down at the paragraph in front of him, starting to read out loud. "Preee-heat... oven. P-l-ace cream, vanilla bean- beans!" He and Rosie exchanged a smile, "into a saucepan and bring to a bo-ill."

Marie shot Clementine a worried look, the teen realizing what he was reading. Really, giving a recipe to read when he's hungry? She could sew the badge of 'Mom of the year' to her jacket right now. But instead, she grabbed the bag and handed it to him.

"On second thought, nevermind. We can practice your reading later. Here, it's about all we got."

AJ and Rosie looked at the bag uncertainly. Giving each other worried looks. Rosie looked at Clem, worried eyes meeting even more worried ones. "What about you?"

The concern made the teen slightly happy. Someone's there, someone is right there with her, worrying about her. Not just taking and taking and taking, but also giving. "We'll find something else soon."

"I believe you." 

But she's not so sure she believes herself.


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two (_written by Daisy_)

They had been driving for a good thirty minutes, and Clementine still hadn't found anything that looked good to check out. AJ was sound asleep and Marie barely spoke, leaving the car sitting in silence the entire ride. Clem enjoyed the silence though, giving her time to think about all that has happened to her all these years. Meeting her dæmon for the first time, Lee's death, dealing with Carver's group, the birth of AJ, being apart of A New Frontier, it all brought back the memories. Clem looked down at her hands gripping the steering wheel, noticing her missing ring finger on her left hand. She remembered that day like the back of her hand, recalling AJ's cries and Marie's whimpering at the sight of Clem's messed-up finger.

Clem was about to recall another memory when a building of some kind caught her eye, speeding up to get a better look at it. She saw what appeared to be a rusty looking train station, seemingly abandoned for quite some time. She pulled up to a worn-out part of the train, not able to make out the words that were on it. The sudden stop made Marie perk up, looking around, "Why'd we stop? We already out of gas?"

"No Marie," Clem stated, looking around the place, "I think we found ourselves somewhere to check out."

The movement of Marie seemed to wake the other human in the car, him sitting up and rubbing his eyes. Car naps weren't the comfiest way to sleep in the world, but it was way better than sleeping on a hard rock or laying on a dirt road. AJ observed his surroundings, seeing the train station. "We gonna do it?" He simply asked.

Clem narrowed her eyes at the decently large building beside them, "Think so."

Rosie crawled out of AJ's arms, running over to Marie and jumped on her head, getting a better look of what was outside. There didn't seem to be any signs of life nearby, and the place looked like it hadn't been touched in quite some time.

Clem thought for a moment, thinking about whether they should go for it or not. This could be an easy trap, maybe someone was waiting inside the building already stalking them from a window. Or this place could be an easy come and go run, where the four of them could just easily scan the place out for anything useful and leave right afterward. She liked the sound of the second idea. Clem looked to her side, eyeing a pocket knife sitting in the door holder. She picked it up, handing it back to AJ, "We're doing it."

AJ smiled, eagerly taking the knife in his hands. Rosie squeaked, jumping off Marie's head and going back into AJ's arms, cuddling up to his chest. Marie got up from the seat, ready to finally get out of the cramped car. Clem opened the door, stepping out with a backpack in hand before shortly followed by the others. AJ and Rosie made their way over to a sign with a bell attached to it, while Clem and Marie went off to the trunk to grab some last-minute things before going and exploring the place. Clem opened the trunk, revealing a canteen, a pry bar, and a colorful toy with a hole near its face. Marie poked her head inside, eyeing everything, "We don't have a lot back here,"

"No, we don't." Clem picked up the pry bar, earning a confused look from Marie. "In case we need to pry open the door, idiot."

"Ooh, oh- wait hey! I'm no idiot!"

"Yeah, uh-huh." Clem held the urge to laugh, shoving the pry bar into the backpack, the tip of it sticking out of the opening just a bit. Her eyes wandered to the canteen, picking that up next. "God, we need clean water too, haven't had any in days."

"Who needs water? Can't we just look for food?"

"Just so you know, the human body needs water, otherwise we'd be dead. So, unless you wanna go poof, we need water."

The cougar groaned, knowing what Clementine meant. If the human dies, the dæmon dies. If the dæmon dies, the human dies. And that's something Marie isn't quite ready for yet. "Okay okay, I get it."

Clem chuckled, placing the canteen in the backpack beside the pry bar. Her eyes finally landed on the toy, her happy mood going down to a sadder mood. "Too bad this toy didn't quite make it,"

"As long as AJ has disco broccoli, I'm sure he'll be fine." Marie pointed out. She knew AJ had a soft spot for that toy.

"Yeah, you're right." Clem finished grabbing everything she needed, slamming the trunk closed. She and Marie made their way over to where AJ was, who was still staring deeply at the sign with the little bell attached to it. The sign read, "Friendly? Ring bell.", with "(no trespassing)" underneath.

"Should we ring it?" AJ asked, looking over at Clem.

"I wouldn't, it could alert walkers."

"Finally, making a wise decision for once." Marie chimed in.

"Excuse me?"

"Uhh what? I didn't say anything." Marie smirked, walking past the metal barriers you would see at concerts or amusement parks. They didn't look as worn out as some of the other stuff, but they've obviously seen better days.

Clem heard a little giggle from the side, looking over and seeing AJ silently laughing. She gawked at him, not believing he's siding with her dæmon.

"I cannot believe you two,"

"What? It's funny!"

Clem rolled her eyes, walking away from AJ and heading towards Marie, who was staring at something on their right. Clem looked over, seeing what had Marie's attention. A walker could be seen slowly rising from the ground, looking over at where they were standing. Clem quickly pulled out her knife, looking back at AJ, "AJ, stay back."

AJ nodded, running behind come large cans while Rosie hid in his sweatshirt. The walker started to speed walk over to where Clem and Marie stood, obviously hungry. "Marie, go join AJ," Clem muttered out quickly, her eyes not even looking down at her.

"And leave you to kill that walker alone? Heck no."

Clem sighed, knowing that arguing with Marie would only make things worse. She saw the walker coming over faster, using the time to charge at it, kicking its knees to make it go down to the ground. Marie pinned the walker down with her paws, making sure the walker won't go anywhere. Clem raised her knife, slamming it down into its skull. Seeing the walker go limp, she pulled the knife out, Marie releasing her grip and wiping her paws on Clem's jeans.

"Oh come on, really?" Clem shoved Marie off, cringing.

"Where do you expect me to clean them off??"

"I don't know, the ground?!"

"That's gross."

"You are, such a diva," Clem stated, walking over to where AJ was crouched behind the cans. "You still with me AJ?"

"Still here, no bites." He said proudly, Rosie coming out of his sweatshirt, squealing happily at them.

Clem smiled, watching AJ run off to a tire swing on the other side of the area, staring at it. She was going to walk over and join when she felt a gentle shove on her leg. She looked down, seeing Marie looking up at her. "What's up?"

"Those bins, I think there's something in them." Marie pointed out the bins sitting on the patio of the building. Clem made her way up on the deck, peering down into one of the trash cans. She saw what looked to be water, though it looked like it had all sorts of nasty stuff chilling inside of it. Marie peaked into it too, seeing it. "Is that water?"

"Looks like it," Clem put the lid back on, stepping away from the trash can.

"I dare you to drink it."

"Are you nuts?" Clem looked down at her, "No way am I drinking that."

"You could try purifying it."

"And how will I do that?"

"I.. oh yeah, good point. Never mind, don't drink it, I prefer you alive thank you very much." Marie jumped off the deck before Clem could say anything, trotting over to AJ, who was still staring at the tire swing. Clem sighed, heading down and joining them over at the oh so amazing tire swing. AJ looked over at Clem, curiosity in his eyes. "Monster trap?"

Clem chuckled, though deep down her heart ached to know AJ has grown up to learning all this stuff about dealing with walkers and surviving. "It's not a trap, you swing on it." The silence Clem got in return informed her that AJ was confused, "You know, for fun."

"For fun?"

Clem nodded, making her way over to the tire swing, "Yeah. You get in the tire, and then someone would push you so that you go up high."

AJ stared in awe, peering into the tire. "Huh. I wanna try! After we clear this place."

Clem smiled, glad AJ was still the little kid she raised. She walked over to the back of the building, a deer skull catching her eye. She sped over to where it sat, eagerly taking it in her hands. "Huh.. interesting."

"Uhm yeah, we're not taking that."

Clem looked behind her, seeing Marie standing right behind her. "What? It looks cool."

"Clem, that would scare AJ half to death."

"Then we won't let AJ see it." Clem took off her backpack, shoving the skull into it as best as she could. She could hear Marie groaning quite loudly, giggling. "What? Let me live a little."

"This is not how I raised you."

"You technically didn't raise me." Clem rushed away before Marie could argue back.

"Wh- Clementine! I'm not done talking to you!"

Clem snickered, seeing the front door to the building. She walked up onto the deck again, trying to open the door. "Hm, locked."

AJ had now joined her, Marie right behind him. Clem pulled out the pry bar, using to pry open the door. She successfully opened the door, putting the pry bar back in the backpack. She looked over at AJ, kneeling in front of him, "Okay, now what do we do inside a new place?"

"We listen for monsters."

"Good, and after that?"

"Um." AJ hesitated, not knowing the answer.

"Come on, you remember, we find-"

"-Find a way out." AJ finished.

Clem nodded, "Yeah, that's right." She stood back up, turning towards the door. "Are we all ready?"

Earning nods from all three of them, Clem slowly creaked the door open, peeking inside. The only things she could see from the doorway were two wooden benches, a couple of windows, and a closed ticket booth. She opened the door more, stepping inside. Low growls made her jump, looking over to see two walkers tied up on chairs. AJ and Marie walked in after Clem, looking over at what she was looking at.

"Huh. Monsters."

Clem made her way over to where they sat, seeing them desperately trying to grab her. Marie growled back at them, making sure AJ wasn't too close to the walkers. "They can't get us?"

"No, they can't." Clem sighed, thankful they couldn't.

AJ walked further in, inspecting the room. "Front door's the only way out."

Clem nodded, watching AJ walk over to the door which led to behind the ticket booth. AJ tried to open it, though it was locked. "This door's locked."

Clem made her way over to the door, looking at it with her arms crossed. "Security door, can't pry that open." She saw AJ look down, holding his stomach. Rosie had crawled out of his sweatshirt, running to Marie who was behind them and jumping onto her back. Clem stood beside AJ, looking down at him. "I know you're hungry. I am too. We'll find something soon, okay?"

"Okay," AJ finally muttered out loud, walking past Clem to the other side of the room. Clem sighed, looking over at the ticket booth. She hoped some kind of food was back there, otherwise, they wouldn't have anything else to eat for a while. Clem looked back at the walker couple, walking in front of them. Marie followed her, looking at them. "How cute, they're holding hands."

Clem looked down at the floor, seeing a note along with a bottle of what looked to be poison. She bent over, picking up the note and reading it out loud, "Please leave us alone. This is what we wanted."

"They wanted to die?" AJ asked from across the room.

Clem stayed silent, now holding the poison bottle. Marie sighed, speaking for Clem. "Yeah buddy, they wanted to leave this world together. Holding hands, in their own home."

"Will we ever have a home?"

"We'll see," Clem finally spoke, dropping the bottle. Marie whined, nudging Clem's hand. Clem looked over at Marie, seeing her look at her with worried eyes. She smiled, petting her head. "I'm fine, don't worry about me."

"It's my job to worry,"

"No, that's my job."

"Fine, it's both of our jobs."

"Fair enough," Clem looked back at the couple, noticing something shimmer on one of them. She looked closer, seeing it's a pair of keys. She reached out to grab them, only for the walker to get hyper like a child with candy, desperately trying to get a hold of Clem. She quickly backed away, huffing. "Well, that's not happening."

AJ had walked over, eyeing the key. "Do we get the key?"

"It's.. risky. Might be another way in through that door."

"Let's be smart."

Clem smiled. "That's right."

Clem walked to the ticket booth, seeing the booth window. She bent down, peeking inside. Not much could be made out, it was too dark. Clem sighed, straightening back up. She looked back at AJ, who was walking over with Marie at his heels. "The key or the window. Those are our options." She said, seeing AJ peek inside the room behind the locked door. He looked frightened, almost like he saw something Clem didn't. When Clem looked back in, she saw the same thing she saw before.

"It's dark in there Clem."

"I know kiddo.." She looked down at AJ, seeing him eye something. She looked over, noticing he was looking at the tied up walker couple. "What are you thinking AJ?"

"We should kill the monsters."

"Excuse me?"

"They're not people, and what if they got loose?"

"AJ-"

The sound of a door clicking open interrupted her, both Clem and AJ looking over to see the ticket booth door flung open, Rosie holding onto the handle for her dear life. They both exchanged confused looks, "How did she-?"

"Who cares how she got in? Let's go!" Marie shoved past the two, rushing over to help Rosie down. Clem shrugged, strolling past them and entering the room. The room seemed untouched, but some objects in the room could be in better shape. A mattress with torn up blankets laying on it took up a good chunk of the room, holes, and stains covering it. A wooden crib sat in the corner beside it, having nothing inside it. Bookshelves stood on the other side of the room, old cardboard boxes resting on them. Desks were scattered all around the room, having books on the shelves built onto them. AJ ran in past Clem, her smiling at the sight of AJ happy. Marie strolled in after him, Rosie on her head.

"Looks like these people had a good thing going on here."

"Can we stay here?" AJ looked at Clem, noticing something in his eyes Clem had never seen before. Hope. Excitement. She looked down at Marie, who was giving her the 'don't screw this up' look. Clem sighed, looking back up at AJ, "We'll see,"

AJ's face instantly dropped after she said that, scanning the room. "No one's here. No one's ever anywhere."

"Hey, I'm here kiddo."

"Yeah, I know."

Clem chuckled, crossing her arms. "You saying I'm not someone?"

"That's not what I mean."

"Hold up, are you two ignoring the fact that Rosie and I exist?" Marie interrupted, looking back and forth at Clem and AJ.

"Yes Marie, that is exactly what we're doing."

"I am, disgusted." Marie huffed, trotting past Clem and over to the mattress, eyeing it carefully.

Clem snickered, spotting AJ running over to one of the desks. She followed after him, catching a glimpse of him picking up a couple of bullets. She smiled, glad they found some ammo. Although Clem herself didn't have a gun, AJ had one handy and is a pretty good shot too. "Just a few," He said, loading them into the gun.

"Remember what we said.." Clem chimed in, crouching down to meet AJ's eyes. "We.."

AJ kept quiet, looking down at the gun in his hands. He knew what Clem was gonna say, but he didn't wanna mutter it out before she did.

"We always-"

"We always aim for the head." AJ finished for her, sitting looking down at his gun.

Clem sighed, seeing her dæmon giving her a look of approval, "Yeah, that's right."

AJ smiled, running over to another side of the room, searching around for any food. Clem got the idea of what he was doing, getting up and looking around the room. A can next to one of the desks caught her eye, bending down and gathered the can in her hands. She inspected it, seeing it is, or in this case was, a can of some kind of food, the words saying what it was covered up. She sighed, turning back to AJ, "Sorry buddy, these are long gone." she stated, throwing the can off to the side.

"Fuck."

Clem looked at AJ, shocked at what he just said. Even though she wasn't looking at Marie, she could see in her mind that she was looking at him in disbelief. She didn't know whether to let the curse word slide or tell him to watch what he was saying.

"Well, I can't argue with-"

"Watch the fucking swears AJ," Marie spoke up, giving Clem a death glare.

"Uhh yeah! Watch the swears!" Clem laughed nervously, watching Marie nod in approval.

"But you said shit-bird back in the car!"

"Uhhh Marie told me to!"

"I didn't tell you anything!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did-!"

"Look! Rosie found something," AJ stopped the argument, pointing to Rosie, who was peering at something under the mattress. Clem walked over, getting a better look at it. "Look's like something's under here."

"Should we check it out?"

"Maybe, let's do it." Clem started to shove the mattress, Marie quickly coming over to help her. They moved the mattress over to reveal a floor door. Someone must've wanted whatever is inside there to not be seen.

"Floor door?" AJ acknowledged, making out what was in front of them.

"Yeah," Clem went down to her knees, grabbing ahold of the handle. She tugged hard on the door, pulling it open. She eyed what looked to be tons and tons of jarred up food, not believing what she was seeing. AJ looked down, immediately getting excited. They've found some good finds before, but this? This has to be their best find yet.

"Woah," AJ beamed. "That's a lot of stuff."

"Yeah, it is," Clem said happily. "We could eat for weeks with this much."

"The only problem is, how are we gonna get it all back to the car?" Marie spoke up, knowing the backpack wouldn't be able to fit all the jars of food.

"We'll figure that out later, lets just-" The sound of something metal could be heard from the secret room, cutting off what Clem was going to say. A grenade suddenly came into view from down below, striking them all in fear. They were so close, so close, to have a good supply run. "Shit, it's rigged!"

Before they could do anything, Marie had already slammed the floor door closed, making Clem lose her grip on it. The cougar tackled the two humans out of the room, the bomb exploding midway. They all were coughing, slowly getting up from the ground.

"Oh my god, are you all okay?!" Marie asked with worry deep in her tone, checking over Clem and AJ for injuries. "And where's Rosie?!"

"Right here!" AJ pulled out Rosie, who was hidden in his sweatshirt the whole time. Clem had already gotten up, running over to the window. Walkers could be seen starting to make their way to the station. If they all didn't get out of there quick, they would be dead. AJ had rushed over, seeing what was outside. "Monsters..."

Clem nodded, going to the front door and kicking it open, immediately hearing the loud, scratchy sounding groans coming from the walkers. Every direction they looked they saw what looked to be around ten walkers heading their way. "Okay, we need to get back to the car. Now."

Everyone seemed to agree with the plan. They all rushed off the deck, heading back to the opening in where they entered in from. Walkers had already started to pour into the area, leaving their only way back to the car blocked. Looks like it's killing some walkers time.

"AJ," Clem spoke, looking down at the said child, "You know what to do. Stay to the sides and be my eye while I clear a path."

AJ nodded, understanding what she said. He ran over to a loose piece of metal, hiding behind it while a walker started to bang on the other side of it, sensing AJ hiding behind it. Clem got the idea of what's gonna happen, pulling out her knife. She took out the first walker, not even caring about using the knee trick she learned all those years ago from Jane. Her thoughts of that memory were cut off when a walker appeared out of nowhere, getting a bit too close to her. She quickly stabbed it in the head, watching it crumble to the ground.

"Clem! Over here!"

Clem turned at the sound of her name, seeing AJ had pinned the last walker with the metal board he was hiding behind. Rosie was on his shoulder, squealing happily. Before they knew it, the walker was smashed in the head by a pair of paws. Clem looked over to see Marie cringing at the sight of walker guts on her. "Eww, get it off."

"After eight years in the apocalypse, you're still afraid of getting yourself dirty?"

"It's walker guts, Clem! It'll always be nasty!"

"Uh-huh," Clem looked back at where the car was, "C'mon, we gotta go,"

AJ stood up, Rosie crawling back into his sweatshirt. They all ran back to the metal barriers where they first came through here, seeing more walkers starting to rush into the area. They all ran as fast as they could back to the car, Clem opening the car door and letting everyone in first before getting in herself, throwing both her knife and the backpack inside. A walker thought it was a great idea to prevent her from closing the door, getting its arm stuck in between while aimlessly waving its hand around. Clem reached for her knife, though she couldn't grab it. She looked down at the car keys, only thinking of one other option. Use the keys. She made up her mind, stabbing the keys into where its eye used to be a couple of times before she had to leave the keys stuck in the walker's eye socket and kick it off the car. Clem swiftly slammed the door shut, looking around them from her window. Walkers kept banging all around the car, practically keeping them put. "Crap..."

Clem looked down, only thinking of one other way to move the car. She sighed, leaning over to shift the gears and release the brakes. After doing both those things, she felt the car slowly move forward. She sighed in relief, thankful they were making some progress. AJ's yell made Clem look back quickly, seeing a walker had broke in through the back window. Marie had pinned the walker down while AJ pulled himself up to the front with Clem. He grabbed her knife, holding it in front of her. "Clem! Here!"

"Thanks, AJ," She took the knife, turning her head so she could finish this walker off. A walker broke in through AJ's side, making Clem look over and finish it off for AJ. She turned back to finish the walker that broke in from the back, but wasn't expecting the walker to pounce at her, having a good grip on her. AJ pulled his own knife out, stabbing it in the head, making it let go of Clem. She too stabbed it, seeing it go limp.

"Sorry," Marie started, "It slipped out of my grip."

"It's alright.. fuck," Clem muttered the last part to herself. She wasn't paying attention to where the car was going, suddenly feeling them crash. She yelped, looking up to see they had crashed into a tree, the walker that had the car keys stuck in its eye socket squished in between the car and the tree. Clem huffed, scooting up a bit so one of her legs was free. She kicked the windshield, the glass starting to shatter. She kicked it again, making the entire windshield shatter into pieces. Clem squeezed out, crawling to where the walker was pinned. She quickly grabbed the keys, easily pulling them out of the walker. She crawled back inside the car, wiping the walker guts off the keys. She leaned over, starting the engine up. After a few tries, she heard the car roar to life.

"Everyone, hang on!" Clem put the car in reverse, backing up into the walkers that were behind them. She grunted, putting the car back into drive. Another walker broke the window on her side, making Clem lose control of the wheel and sending them driving down a hill. She lost track of what happened afterward.

All she can remember was AJ had pulled out his gun, trying to aim it at the walker that was on her. He looked over at where they were driving, however, which was right at a boulder. They must've crashed, because the car had flipped over and made Clem's head start letting out extreme pain. Everything was a blur, walkers around them got shot in the head by arrows. No one she knew had arrows. She looked to her side to see AJ out cold, someone picking him up. She couldn't see Marie or Rosie either, head throbbing like crazy. She tried reaching out, trying to stop this person from taking AJ. She just got him back, she couldn't lose him this quick. "No.. please-"

The last thing Clem saw before her world turned pitch black was the limp body of the walker that had broken in.


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three (_Written by Olivia_)

Spending years on the road with a small child taught Clementine a lot. Mostly that to make sure AJ was safe and sound, sleep was a no-no. That his stomach was more important than her's. Being hungry for days - sometimes weeks, just to make sure he always had something to eat. Staying up all night and watching out for both of them. 

Marie was constantly scolding her for this; if she was weak and exhausted all the time, what good would it do?

Well, it wasn't like she got no sleep. Marie and Rosie would look out for them, but she didn't want to put them in that danger. She would take one-hour breaks, two at most, then was back on her feet. 

Which is why she was surprised when she woke up on something VERY comfortable.

First off, what the fuck? She felt like she slept for days. Jesus Christ, what happened?

Second, where the fuck? This wasn't Lightning McQueen. Where was she? Did she forget or something?

Her eyes fluttered open, looking around the room. It looked like something out of a high school movie. A closet in the corner, a ceiling fan that wasn't spinning (obviously), a bunk bed opposite where Clementine was at.

She noticed Marie sitting on the bunk bed, staring out of the window. Beneath it was a cabinet with a medical box on it, some supplies laid out on the table.

That's when she noticed the absence of a certain child and quickly sat up - pain flooding her wrist as she was pulled back by the restraint, briefly wincing.

"AJ!"

"Woah- easy, Clem!" Marie quickly jumped off the bed and approached her, a wary look on her face. "Easy there."

Clementine pulled off the tape no problem, sitting up properly as she looked at her dæmon. "What happened? Do you know where we are?"

"You crashed," Marie deadpanned. "And now we're here. I passed out, you passed out, I woke up just before you."

Okay, well, fuck. That's just great. They were in an unknown place, separated from AJ. 

"What is this place?" Clementine asked as she stood up, looking around the room once more before meeting eyes with Marie. "Looks like some sort of dorm room."

"Probably," the cougar agreed, "they patched you up." Clementine raised a hand to her head and felt soft material wrapped around it, a bit wet near her right temple. "If they helped us, they may not be that bad."

She ignored the comment and pulled open a drawer. Marie watched curiously as Clem took out a book titled "Memories" and flipped through it. Recognizing none of those people, she put it back where it was. 

This time she aimed for the closet, pulling it open and looking inside. Altering her gaze upwards she noticed a toolbox and reached for it, though wasn't tall enough.

Marie gave a laugh, "you're so tiny."

"Shut up, you try living off of a bag of chips for multiple weeks," Clem shot back with a playful glare. 

"Okay, okay, fine. Try the chair."

With the help of the chair, Clementine reached the box and carried it over to the table. As soon as she opened it she noticed a palette knife, picking it up and waving it around briefly. "This could work."

"You could pick the lock with it," Marie suggested, sitting down. "We've done that a few times already."

"Exactly," she replied as she approached the locked door. Taking a deep breath she inserted the knife and twisted it around, a quiet click echoing through the room as the lock gave out.

Clementine gave Marie a wary look before slowly opening the door, poking her head out briefly. The door led to some hallway that was empty of anyone, aside from a couple of pieces of furniture. She noticed a few more doors, along with the graffiti and scratches on not only them but the walls and furniture as well. 

"What the hell...?" Marie muttered, stepping into the hallway. Looking around, moving forward slightly, paw after paw. Clementine followed, trying to focus. She didn't hear anyone, she didn't see anyone... what was this place?

"A school," Marie glanced at her, "that's what it looks like to me." 

And, she had to admit, it did look like a school. Like some sort of dorm building you'd see in movies. Which freaked her out even more. "We were... at the train station. There wasn't a school in sight. How did we...?"

Marie stayed silent, suddenly panicking and rushing Clementine behind a cabinet. And soon enough, the loud sound of a door opening echoed through the large hallway. The two shared a look, Clementine holding the palette knife tight. Peeking out and figuring out what was happening.

She expected some kind of adult with a gun and a large dæmon. Looking around, ready to put a bullet in her before she even took a breath. Ready to separate her and AJ once again.

What she *didn't* expect was a young boy, a bit younger than her, with a tiny cub hanging tightly onto his arm. Holding a knife tightly, looking into her room in confusion.

She stepped out of her hiding spot, Marie on her heels. "Hey- stay where you are. Don't turn around. Drop the knife."

The boy immediately froze, putting his hands up, his cub dæmon moving to his shoulder. Before he could do anything else, the sound of a bow being aimed filled her ears and she noticed another person, a huge mystery as they were in the dark spot of the hallway.

"How about you do the same?"

Marie moved in front of Clementine, bearing her teeth at the mystery person. "Why should she?"

"We don't wanna hurt you," they started, "we have your boy. He's safe. So is his daemon. I promise. We'll take you to him."

At the mention of AJ, Marie and Clem glanced at each other, unsure. Yet soon enough, she dropped the palette knife, standing up straighter. "Your turn."

"Good, that's good.." the mystery person breathed, slowly lowering the bow. "See? All good here."

Marie relaxed only slightly, still glaring at the mystery person defensively. 

"Look, if we wanted to hurt you, we would've done that already," a voice spoke up, and that's when Clementine noticed a tiny little mouse at their feet. "Considering these circumstances, though, I'll let this little stand-off slide."

"Rich words coming from a rat," Marie growled, but she knew they were right. These people took care of Clementine and her and this person could've shot them as soon as they deemed fit. 

"You only get one strike," the dæmon continued, ignoring her comment. "Now, are you going to behave so we can take you to your boy?"

Clementine studied the person best she could, but couldn't make out any distinctive features. Not dropping her guard, she glanced over at Marie. 

"Yeah, okay. Now please, take me to see him."

"Since you asked so nicely."

She scoffed at that, a little alarmed as the figure stepped out of the shadows towards her. "Sorry for tying you to the bed and all."

"You were in a really rough shape. We had to take precautions." 

Clementine took her time scanning this new guy - he was taller than her for sure. His blonde mullet immediately made her cringe and judging by Marie's expression, her too. She noticed the rat quickly climbing his clothes and settling on his shoulder, giving them a wary look. 

"I'm Marlon, that's Tennessee. You can call him Tenn, though." He paused, giving his dæmon a brief look. "That's Ratthew, and Tenn's is Spirit."

Marie immediately snorted, dropping her cold exterior completely. "Ratthew? Seriously?"

"Oh fuck off, Ratthew isn't that weird of a name," The dæmon spat, "people like to make fun of it when they meet me and it's getting on my nerves."

"I'm Clementine," the girl ignored the little argument, "and that's Marie."

"Nice to meet you, Clementine," Marlon gave her a nervous smile, "let's go see your boy now."

He turned on his heel and walked down the long hallway towards the huge doors probably leading outside, Clementine following shortly. Tennessee tagging along, his dæmon - Spirit - now resting in his arms. As they walked, she took the chance to look around. 

The walls were covered in graffiti and nasty insults, messages like "Justin fucked a walker" and "Ericson's Strong" carved into the old wood. The ceiling was high and even if the walls were obviously old, they were holding up alright.

The tap-tap sound of Marie's footsteps filled her ears and she felt something brush against her legs, looking down and confirming her suspicions. Marie nonchalantly strolled next to her, rubbing against her leg every once in a while. It was a habit, she'd been doing it for a while now, not like Clementine minded. 

Memories of Howe's filled her mind, remembering how she'd walked down the hall of the hardware store, trying not to bring attention to herself. Marie carefully rubbing herself against her feet in an attempt to bring comfort; Clementine wasn't alone. Never. 

She shook the thoughts away and gave a faint smile, looking back up to find Marlon's dæmon - Ratthew - staring at her.

"So, a rat, huh?" She asked carefully, looking at the back of Marlon's head instead of the cold eyes of his dæmon. She'd seen some crazy dæmons in her life, but she doubted she'd ever seen one that settled as a rat.

"Yep, that was one hell of an embarrassing day at school," Marlon paused briefly, "but it's not that bad. God, it was so easy to sneak out."

There was a comfortable silence in the air as the trio arrived at the doors, Marlon pushing it open and letting Clementine and Marie walk through. Tenn swiftly moved through it outside, running off to somewhere, Clementine too distracted by the place to notice or care.

Looking around with wide eyes, she noticed another pair of large doors, accompanied by a couple of pillars in front of it. A courtyard sat in front of her, picnic tables and benches littered around. That was so much to take in at once.

Clementine rested her hand on a nearby brick pillar, still staring in awe. This place was fucking huge. And it actually looked decent. 

"Holy shit," Marie muttered from behind her, slowly moving forward, looking up at her. "This place is like a dream."

"Reminds me of.." Clementine trailed off, getting a nod from the cougar. 

Marlon closed the doors and approached her, looking around as well. "You've been surviving out there for a while, huh?"

"Yup, we've been on the road for a long time."

"I take it you know how to handle yourself?" Marlon glanced at her, "don't usually see people our age alone out in the wild, y'know. I can't imagine what that must've been like."

"Sure," Clementine shrugged, finally looking at him. "I do what I can to get by."

"No matter what?"

"No matter what after it's approved by me," Marie spoke up, "we all share 10 brain cells and I have 9."

Marlon smiled at the cougar before walking forward towards Tenn. Clementine took that as a cue to follow him, Marie tagging along right after. 

Clementine saw a huge gate by her left, strengthened by random things she hadn't seen in ages. A wooden look-out post connected to a wall next to the said gate, another smaller gate falling into her view before she altered her gaze.

Looking in front of her now, she noticed Tenn sprinting over to a wall, saying something before looking back and pointing at her. Her gaze falling on something- no, someone sitting on said wall, now looking at her. 

Focusing more on the girl that was now staring at her (and Marie), Clementine noticed a few things about her. Short hair that was reasonably messy that almost reached her collarbones, narrowed eyes scanning the large cougar, thin legs bent in an attempt to make herself comfortable. And at last, an intimidating owl resting next to her, wearing the exact same expression.

Clementine looked away with a chill running down her spine, deciding to pay attention to Marlon's talking instead of acting like a pathetic teenager meeting a pretty person for the first or second time. 

"It's good we found you when we did. It wasn't easy getting you all out of that wreck, with walkers on the way and us having limited strength." 

"Last thing you'd expect in an apocalypse is carrying a fucking cougar back to the school," Ratthew noted, "along with a 5-year-old and someone our age."

"Sorry for the trouble," Clementine gave them an apologetic look, "I have to ask, though, was the car totaled?"

"Yeeeah."

"Fuck," she muttered, ignoring Marie's scolding look. "Lightning McQueen was too young.."

"Had to work fast," Marlon continued, either too weirded out by her naming her car to address it or too nervous to hear her in the first place. "I don't know what would've happened if we hadn't seen the smoke."

A young boy approaches them, staring at Clementine for a second before looking down at Marie, eyes going wide. Clementine finds herself speechless, not really knowing what to say.

"Uh, hi there..?" She prompted, trying to find something to say, but coming up empty. Marie instead studying the small hummingbird fluttering its wings as it flew around, swiftly taking the form of a monkey and hanging onto the boy's arm. 

Marlon turned back at the words, watching as the boy ran away. Clementine looking up at him with a questioning look. "What's his problem?"

"Shock isn't a problem," Ratthew spoke up, "we haven't seen anything like you in, like, ever."

Deciding to move on to a different topic, Clementine gestures to the wide yard, asking, "what is this place?" Which prompted Marlon to step in front of her, opening his arms.

"You can probably tell it used to be a school. Now it's... whatever we want it to be."

"And who's in charge?"

Marlon gestured to himself, smiling in pride. "Well, I am."

And while Clementine loved the idea of no adults being in charge, it also felt a little suspicious. "Probably sounds strange, kids run by a kid. But we do alright! Good walls, good defenses, good location."

"Understandable," she put a hand on her hip, "adults are unreliable."

"You'll fit in perfectly," Marlon said with a smirk. 

"What do you mean?"

"Allow me to make it formal;" Marlon once again opened his arms in pride, "welcome to Ericson's Boarding School for Troubled Youth! You and your boy sound like the perfect fit!"

"Hey," Marie scoffed, Marlon looking down at her. "We're not 'troubled'."

"We aren't?"

"Sh Clementine. Marlon, you got us all wrong. Clementine and I? A pair of pure angels."

Clementine shared a look with him. "Yeah, no, I don't believe that. And neither does Clem, so it seems. Which says a lot."

The cougar huffed, sitting down. "Right."

"What I mean is that your boy has been trouble since he woke up."

Marie perked up at that, approaching Marlon with a serious face. "What?"

"Let's just say he hasn't been too happy without you around," Marlon crossed his arms, "at all."

Screaming of the boy Clementine saw earlier filled the yard, all of their attention on him now. "YO! Marlon! We've got walkers on the fence!"

"Yeah, yelling will surely make them go away.." Marie muttered, Clementine giving her a scolding look. 

"Shit, I need to take care of this.." Marlon started his journey to the gate, turning around and walking backwards. "Knowing Willy, it's probably two grandma walkers and a squirrel. You got bigger fish."

Turning around and continuing his walk, Marlon exclaims, "the kid's inside! I left him with Louis."

"Louis?" 

"Just follow the music, you'll find him."

And with that, he was gone.

Clementine shared an uncertain look with Marie. Right, music. The large building behind her caught her eye. That's where he had to be.

She looked around the yard one last time, noticing a couple of kids staring, mostly at Marie. That girl from earlier caught her gaze.

The blonde smiled at her and looked away into the woods casually as if that totally just hadn't fucked Clementine's nerves up. Ignoring the tingly feeling and Marie's smirk, she set off to find AJ and Rosie. Right, and Louis.

Clementine held the doors open for Marie to slip through and gently closed them, the sound of a piano immediately filling her ears. Sharing a quick look with Marie who was just as confused as her. 

Excitement filled Clementine's veins as she muttered, "follow the music; check." Deciding to look around later and find her pseudo son first, her excitement mixing with fear as she hoped these people would be better than the last few groups she's been in; not demanding her to brand herself for life and separate her from AJ later on anyway.

"Hey," Marie spoke softly, attracting Clem's attention to her. "It's gonna be okay, Clem. We're in this together."

The girl crouched down and wrapped her arms around the dæmon, nodding. "Well, ah, I sure hope so."

As if on cue, a door slammed open somewhere down the hall and loud footsteps appeared. 

"That little motherfucker!"

Clementine got up and her eyes widened when a whole fucking horse turned the corner, looking back at a short redhead that followed after. Both of their attention suddenly on her and Marie, looking furious.

"Hey! HEY!" The girl stormed up to her, "'bout time you woke up! Your little boy just bit me!" 

"He's lucky I didn't take a hoove to his head," the horse huffed angrily, Marie in absolute shock at seeing a fucking horse.

"I'm sorry, he's been through a lot-"

"Yeah, we all have, yet you don't see us running around taking chunks out of people!" Before Clementine could respond, the girl marched down the hallway to the exit, her dæmon following, shooting her a judgemental look.

Flinching at the loud sound of the doors closing, the two looked at each other, Marie rolling her eyes and continuing her journey to the mysterious piano. Clementine giving a worried glance to where the girl once was before following her.

Soon they arrived at an open door, Clementine going in first and immediately feeling a wave of relief as she saw AJ. Completely ignoring the other person in the room as she smiled, leaning against the doorway for a moment before AJ turned around, noticing her. 

"Clementine!" AJ called out, his face lighting up as he ran to meet her in a hug halfway. The two of them wrapping their arms around each other. "You're okay!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she breathed, her smile widening at Rosie's small paws wrapped around her neck. 

Only to suddenly see AJ's eyes widen, barely letting out an "oof" as the wind was knocked out of her, all three- no, four of them toppling to the floor, getting squished by the large cougar. Chuckling and sharing a huge group hug.

The piano stopped playing and she sat up, only to see a boy looking at the four of them with the most baffling expression she's ever seen in her life. Not sure who it was focused on, but to be honest, all of them, probably. 

As they all stood up Marie looked AJ over, scanning him for any bites. "I was afraid you were..."

Clementine turned to him, a soft smile on her face. "I'm okay, kiddo. And you know what you are? Ticklish!"

The boy giggled as she tickled him briefly, a frown taking over as he saw Clem's worried face. 

"But.." Clementine stood up slightly, putting her hands on her knees meanwhile Marie squished the fuck out of Rosie. "AJ, that girl told me you bit her. Is that true?"

Sighing at the boy's nervous silence, she continued. "You can't be doing that, kiddo, these people helped us."

"I didn't mean to, she snuck up on me." 

"Still, no more bites."

"No more bites."

Clementine smiled, ruffling his hair briefly before a new voice appeared.

"Well, uh- you're not dead, so that's good!"

Looking up at the boy at the piano, Clementine stood up straighter, raising her brow at him.

"Watched your kid for you."

"Thank you," she gave him a warm smile, "I really appreciate it." He didn't seem like a dick, not yet at least, and hopefully, he didn't talk to AJ too much. While encouraging him to make friends, she didn't like not knowing what was being said to him. Especially in a world like this. He was so impressionable, it could not end well.

"No problem!" He smiled, and Clementine looked around for his dæmon. Except she couldn't find one. There was no sign of any dæmons, no tiny rat on the piano, no bird on his shoulder, no fox near his feet. 

"Well, not NO problem, he was a bit of a handful." And it took a moment for Clementine to realize this other voice was coming from INSIDE the coat. The boy giving a grin before opening his coat, a tiny head of a dog poking out from his inside pockets.

What were those called, ah, uh, pomerans? Bomeranians? Pomeranians? Right, pomeranians! Marie seemed to finally get back to her senses and Clementine could feel the happiness radiating off of her.

"Oh my god, a pomeranian. That's so fucking adorable."

Marie completely ignored the look Clem gave her as she got closer to the tiny pup. Clementine rolling her eyes and the boy continuing the conversation.

"I got off light compared to what Ruby went through."

She sighed, putting her hand on AJ's shoulder softly. "AJ doesn't like people coming up behind him." And to be honest, she didn't either. Who would? AJ confirmed her statement, looking him in the eyes.

"Don't ever do it."

"Loud and clear, little man!" The boy gave a simple finger gun, turning back around to the piano, his dæmon hidden from sight again. "Thankfully, I was here to calm him down with my alluring music."

He continued playing the instrument, some kind of weird melody Clementine didn't recognize. Marie shooting her an excited look as AJ stepped closer, Rosie hiding between his feet. 

Surprisingly taking his eyes off the keys, he looked at Clementine. "I'm Louis. And that-" he stopped playing for a moment, opening his coat again, the pomeranian jumping out now and hanging out on the bench. "Is Peewee."

Marie snorted once again and Clementine shoved her with her foot, though she herself was trying not to laugh. "Clementine. That's Marie. This is AJ and Rosie."

"Rosie, huh?" His dæmon - Peewee said, "that's not going to be confusing at all."

Clementine was about to question it but Louis cut her off. "Oh, yeah, totally forgot, Marlon left your bag in here somewhere."

She immediately spotted the backpack and walked towards it, muttering an "I've got it", the trio following her.  
Clementine opened it and went straight for her knife, twirling it in her hand for a moment before putting it away. Next finding her hat, Marie lightning up at that immediately.

Ignoring the bloodstains and potential bad memories, she simply put the hat on and continued her search. Finally spotting AJ's gun, giving it a quick look before handing it to him.

"Umm.." she recognized Peewee's voice. The gentle sound of the piano turned unsettling as Louis missed a few keys and the melody got messed up, too noticing her handing a gun to a 5-year-old. "Double umm.."

As AJ checked for bullets and looked it over, Louis continued. "Does he know what that is?"

AJ frowned, "it's dirty."

"Clean it."

"Maybe later. Back you go," AJ put the gun in his pocket, Clementine smiling at him. "Where it belongs."

Marie shook her head, sitting down next to Clementine. Softly nudging her arm to get her attention, nodding briefly in Louis' direction. The girl glanced at him, raising a brow at the frown the boy was wearing.

"Dude, that can't be a good idea! That thing's bigger than him."

"Well-"

"I'll guarantee you that he's a better shot than you," Marie cut her off, "if you even know how to shoot, that is."

He seemed to take offense to that, frowning as he called out, "hey..!" But not more than a few seconds later, he shook his head and grinned, turning back to his piano once again, Peewee taking interest in Rosie, approaching the tiny lemur at AJ's feet. 

As the sweet melody filled Clementine's ears once more, she found it a bit repetitive. Narrowing her eyes as she stepped closer, asking, "you don't know any others?"

He seemed to hesitate, "well, there is one..." He shot Marie a look, grinning slightly. "But you're armed." Rolling his eyes at the confused looks he got, he started playing, Marie immediately cringing.

"Oh, my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling," he smirked, "Clementine! You are lost and gone forever.." Taking the silence from her as a go-ahead, he continued, "dreadful sorry, Clementine."

AJ was smiling brightly, excited at Clementine having a song about her. Yet Marie was unamused as he finished singing the second verse, almost hit by a wave of relief when he stopped and winked at them.

"What do you think, AJ?" Clementine asked, smiling as he picked Rosie up, holding her in his arms now.

"I don't know...it's loud."

"It is," Clementine agreed hesitantly. 

"Loud is bad." 

"Not always," she winced, noticing the wary look on Marie. Peewee back in Louis' coat, now in one of his front pockets. Louis seemed to sense the tension in the air, patting the spot next to him. "Come press this key."

"Go ahead, AJ. Press it," Clementine added encouragingly, smiling as AJ approached the instrument excitedly. Pressing one of the many keys carefully, holding Rosie against his chest with his other hand. Louis encouraging him to press another two, chuckling. 

"You're a natural!"

The peaceful moment was interrupted as Marlon burst into the room breathless, calling out, "hey! Have you seen Rosie?"

The little dæmon was about to speak up when Louis cut her off, giving Marlon a confused look. "Nope," he said, shaking his head, turning to face him on the bench.

"Ah, shit," Marlon breathed, "we've got a bit of a situation out there. I uh, I hate to ask, since you just woke up and all, but.."

"You up for taking out a few deadheads?" Ratthew finished, holding onto Marlon's ear so he wouldn't fall off. 

Clementine and Marie shared a look, narrowing their eyes, nodding. Rosie giving AJ a determined look, a bit confused about being searched for, but not thinking about it too much.

"You too, Louis, get your ass in gear! Don't even think about leaving Peewee behind this time!" Marlon's dæmon called before disappearing down the hall, said boy sighing and getting up from the bench.

"Fine," he shrugged, approaching the door. Clementine ruffling AJ's hair briefly before following him, knife ready in her pocket.


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four _(Written by Daisy)_

“Rosie! Where the hell is she?!”

Everyone had now gathered up at the gates, weapons in their hands. Well, not exactly everyone. Clementine only saw Marlon, Louis, and the mystery girl from the wall had joined them, the other kids must’ve wanted to stay back and do their own thing.

“You give her her weapon back?” Clem showed her knife as an answer. That made Marlon sigh in relief, “Good. We’re going to need you to put it to use.”

“I still don’t get who this ‘Rosie’ is,” Marie scowled to herself, but was loud enough for Clem to hear and make her look down at the cougar, “He’s not talking about our Rosie, is he?”

“I doubt it, there must be someone else here named Rosie.”

“Really? How common is the name Rosie?” Clem just shrugged, turning her attention instead to the people that stood in front of her. Ratthew stood tall on Marlon’s shoulder, eyeing Clem and Marie suspiciously. Peewee was close by Louis’ side, rubbing his head gently against his leg. And finally, the mystery girl. An owl sat on the blonde girl’s shoulder, its attention more focused on the woods outside the gates than the others.

“We’ve got a hunting party out there trying to get back inside,” Marlon began, gesturing out to the woods, “Need our help to clear the way.”

“Seems to be a lot more walkers than usual these last couple days.” Ratthew added.

“It’s almost like something drew their attention,” The girl finally spoke, turning her head slightly, “Something like, I dunno, an explosion.. or a car crash.”

“Vi.”

“What?” She scowled at Marlon, “I’m just saying.”

“I don’t think we’ve met,” Clem said, “I’m Clementine, and this is-”

“Yeah we know,” The owl on the blonde’s shoulder spoke up, “Your little boy won’t shut up about you.”

Clem and Marie shared a look. Talk about a sassy owl.

Louis sighed from beside Clem, doing his best feminine expression, “Hello Clementine, I’m Violet. Nice to meet you.”

“Don’t forget about Valonia.” Peewee reminded him.

“Right right, sorry. Valonia’s her dæmon, if you didn’t notice already.”

The strange boy from earlier popped out from above in what looked to be a watch tower, his monkey dæmon dangled off of his arm and landed on the wood railing, “All right, boys and girls. They’re starting to fill in!”

“Come on,” Violet called over her shoulder, creaking the gates open and heading out into the woods. Valonia leaped off of her shoulder and darted past her, scouting ahead.

Marlon drew an arrow out from a case behind him, locking it into his bow, “Be careful out there,” And then he was gone.

“Don’t mind Violet and Valonia, they’ll grow on you, I promise.” Louis told Clem, heaving what appeared to be a chair leg with nails sticking out of every corner onto his shoulder. Noticing her confused look, he glanced at it, “Oh this? It’s a chair leg. I call it.. Chairles.”

Clem raised a brow. Marie snorted.

“Who the hell names their weapon?”

“Says the one who named their car Lightning McQueen.”

“Hey!”

Marie softly laughed, trotting out the gates. Clem rolled her eyes, following her out and shutting the gates behind her. AJ caught up right as she closed the gate, holding onto one of the metal bars. “Clem, lemme help!”

Clem turned around to the sound of his pleas, crouching down on the other side, “I need you to watch my back. Call out from inside if you see anything, okay?”

AJ and Rosie looked at each other before the little boy let out a sigh, “Okay.”

Clem smiled, standing back up, “See you on the other side.”

She walked away from the gate, meeting back up with her dæmon. “You ready?”

“Fuck yeah I am.”

“Oh so you’re allowed to curse and I’m not?”

“Excuse you,” Marie remarked, “You always do it in front of AJ.”

“Shut up, I do not.”

Marie rolled her eyes, walking ahead. Clem followed her, slowly whipping out her trusty knife as walkers began to come into sight. She noticed that the kids were actually not that bad when it came to defending, seeing them easily take out some of the walkers. That’s good, they know how to fight.

“Clem! Monster!”

Clem put all her thoughts aside, focusing on the task at hand. She snuck up to a walker getting close to her, slamming her blade into the side of its head with ease. She did the same with any other walker that tried to take a bite out of her. At times she would swift her foot into the knees of the walkers, since more flooded in by the minute. It was only after successfully stabbing yet another walker when she heard a cry of excitement from afar.

“Nice one Clementine!” Louis yelled over to her, “Could use a little more finesse though, watch and learn!”

He then turned to a walker that was limping away from him, its attention elsewhere. Peewee, who was tucked away in Louis’ coat, jumped out and began barking obnoxiously. The walker tilted its head to the sound of the barking, now limping over to the two. Louis heaved out a blade from his back pocket and instantly rammed it against a rope connected to a tree. It wasn’t even a second before a large boulder came hurtling down and crushed the walker.

“And that’s how you school a walker!” Louis said joyfully, bending down and rubbed the top of Peewee’s head, making the small dog smile. Peewee then ran ahead and kept barking, making sure the walkers stayed in the area so that they’d be easier to get rid of.

“There’s a whole bunch of traps laying around in this area of these asshats,” Clem looked around and caught similar looking boulders hooked up to the trees by ropes, “They’re all marked, so keep a good look out!”

Clementine gripped her knife, eyeing one of the traps beside her. She waited until a walker came into view and was in position before swiping the blade and cutting the rope, watching the boulder tumble down and smush the walker. She glanced around at all the other traps, then looked down at her knife. Best not waste all the traps.

Taking out the walkers was easy, all Clem having to do was take them down by the knee and thrust her blade into their rotten heads. She gazed around, relieved the number of walkers was slowly decreasing. What worried her though was that her trusty dæmon was nowhere in sight, causing her stomach to flip. She knew Marie had to be near, but where?

Flashes of light distracted Clem from her thoughts, turning her head and seeing at least three people running through the trees with torches. Marlon too seemed to notice, looking ahead at it.

“Looks like they made it in one piece,” He nodded at Ratthew, who hopped off his shoulder and broke into a run, speeding off deeper into the woods and out of sight, “C’mon, we’ll meet them halfway.” And then he was gone.

Clem continued to slam her knife through the heads of the remaining walkers, watching their lifeless bodies crumple down to the ground. Seeing most of the walkers dealt with in the area, she sighed in relief and took a second to catch her breath. Marie still wasn’t in sight, which still worried her. Marlon’s voice cut her off of her line of thinking, seeing him waving them to come over on the other side of a bridge. She sped over to where he was, seeing Ratthew had caught up with them and raced up Marlon’s leg, crouching on his shoulder.

Her eyes then caught sight of the people she had seen earlier, the ones running with the torches. A girl with slick, auburn hair heaving a rabbit over her shoulder and held a torch stood in between two boys, one grasping onto a bow and the other holding another torch and rabbit. A mountain lion came into view, rubbing its head against the girl’s leg. A cheetah stood proudly beside the boy with the bow, and a raccoon gripped the other boy’s leg and stared up at the others.

“Nice timing,” Violet sounded slightly out of breath, standing beside Marlon while she gripped her cleaver, “We’re not gonna be able to hold them off much longer.”

The auburn haired girl let out a sigh, “No kidding, where’d all these walkers come from?”

“We can talk once we’re all back inside the gates. Just keep an eye out for stragglers.” Marlon spoke, turning around and heading back into the woods to finish clearing the area. Clem took this as a cue to do the same, walking off near the gates to the school while keeping an eye out for both walkers and her dæmon, who she still didn’t know where she was.

The blonde girl, Violet, was heading in the same direction as her. Valonia swept into view and landed on the girl’s shoulder, bumping her beak against Violet’s cheek, gesturing that Clem was heading their way. Violet shifted her eyes over, and saw that Clementine was in fact walking their way. They walked alongside each other, both not realizing they were both avoiding eye contact.

“You know,” Violet began, getting the other girl’s attention, “You’re not half bad, considering the circumstances and all.”

Clem smiled, pleased that she wasn’t all that mad with her. “Thanks.”

Violet smiled as well, but then frowned once she heard giggling from her owl. She sent Valonia a quick glare before turning her head back over to Clem, “Let’s finish these guys off, we don’t need them attracting more walkers back to the school.” And then she was off, running ahead to a walker hobbling their way, Valonia jumping off of her shoulder and flying ahead.

A groan from her right made Clem turn, seeing a walker aimlessly crawling on the ground beside her with an arrow sticking out of its back. She walked over towards it, raising her knife up before lowering it down and slamming it into the walker’s head and finishing it off. She looked up and noticed the guy from before with the bow releasing an arrow that hit a walker’s head from a tree.

“Piece of shit,” She heard him mutter, wiping his jaw as he headed over to the motionless walker to retrieve his arrow, “I hate this cleanup bullshit.”

A walker suddenly was right next to him, managing to get a grip on the boy’s shoulder. He yelled, dropping his bow and was now desperately trying to peel the walker off of him. Clem ran up towards them, heaving her knife into its head and nearly stabbing the boy. The blade didn’t seem to reach the brain however, the walker whacking Clem’s arm and causing her to tumble backwards, its eyes now on her. It gripped her wrist, now Clem being the one to try and get the walker off.

That’s when she heard footsteps. No, it wasn’t footsteps. More like paws to a wild animal speeding on the dirt. Was it Marie?

Then the walker was abruptly pushed off of her, causing her to fumble backwards and nearly tripping, having to catch herself. She got a glimpse of the walker dragging itself on the ground towards her before something lodged its teeth right into the walker’s skull, the sound of its brain being smushed echoing into Clem’s ears before the walker dropped dead onto the ground. She could only stand there gripping her knife, petrified in fear as a blood smeared pitbull’s eyes met her own. The dog began walking towards the frightened girl, the only thing Clem could do was back up and raise her blade as it kept creeping towards her.

Marie suddenly ran into view, standing in front of the girl and narrowed her eyes at the dog, growling vehemently whenever the pitbull took a step closer to them. Marlon soon came out of nowhere, rushing onto one knee and scratched behind the dog’s ears. “Good girl!”

Clementine huffed a shaky breath, crouching down to her dæmon and tightly wrapping her arms around the cougar’s neck. Marie nuzzled her snout against the girl’s cheek, repeatedly muttering apologizes. She was too busy comforting the girl to even acknowledge that Marlon had turned his gaze over to the two with his hand still resting near the dog’s head, eyeing them with slight confusion.

“Um, I see you and Rosie are making friends.”

Marie could only narrow her eyes at him and the rat still sitting on his shoulder, not even bothering the fact that she now knew who the other Rosie was, “We had a bad experience with a dog once.”

“Well Rosie can help you get over it,” Marlon shifted his eyes back over to the dog, “She’s as cuddly as they come. Well- except when she’s mauling walkers, that is.” He quickly added, smirking when Rosie barked at him.

Clem finally managed to calm herself down, standing up beside Marie, still keeping a firm grip on her knife. Marie kept close to her, every now and then bumping her head onto her leg as a sign of comfort. The other kids all began to group back together, checking one another to make sure everyone was still in one piece. The boy, whom Clem saved from that one walker, ran up behind her, scratching the back of his head, his dæmon resting at the side of his leg, “That uh, that walker came out of nowhere.”

Clem nodded as a ‘you’re welcome’ before the sound of Marlon’s dæmon could be heard.

“Alright alright, fun’s over! Let’s go inside, I’m pretty sure you all are fucking starving.” Marlon nodded in agreement, shifting his feet and began to walk back towards the gates to the school. The others saw that as a cue to follow, in which they all do.

“How’d it go out there?” Marlon asked, looking over at the boy with a cheetah as his dæmon.

“How do you think it went?” He retorted.

“Be nice Aasim.”

“The safe zone’s nearly dry,” The cheetah spoke for him, “We could barely find enough for tonight.”

“We’re gonna have to scout out further if we want food for the winter.” Aasim finished off. Marlon turned his gaze to Clementine immediately after he said that, her looking back at him.

“We’ll talk about it later.”

“Bullshit, we should talk about this right now-”

“I said later, damnit.” Marlon practically yelled, digging his shoulder into the other boy’s and walking past. Clem gazed down at her dæmon, who was wearing the same expression as her. Talk about some slight anger issues.

“I see you’re still standing.” Louis observed, running up to walk alongside Clem while Peewee trailed behind him. He then turned his attention towards Violet, who was walking on the other side of him, “I’d call that a B plus performance there Vi, you’ve done better.”

“Fuck off.” Violet muttered, lifting up her hand and raising her middle finger at him. Louis clutched his chest dramatically.

“B minus then. Now Clem over here? That was a solid A, A plus even.” Clem smiled, appreciating the compliment. However, she didn’t even think twice before suddenly speaking up.

“Um, you kicked ass Violet. A plus.” She noticed Violet not expecting those words from her, turning her head away slightly as she felt a small tint of pink creep up her face. “Yeah I know.”

“You’re both delusional.” Louis stated, earning an eye roll from the blonde.

Clem smiled at the sight. She felt a smug gaze locking onto her, looking down and noticing Marie giving her a grin.

“What? I’m being nice.”

“Sure, whatever you say.” Marie smirked, trotting ahead and leaving the girl confused in her thoughts. The sound of a whistle coming from Marlon made her snap back into reality, seeing Rosie run past them all and meeting up with her owner, who was crouched down already and petting her head.

Clem sighed, heaving her knife into her back pocket and joining the others as they all headed back inside, hopefully now getting to eat a decent meal, something she hadn’t had in a very, very long time.


End file.
